Thomas M. Disch is one of my latest obsessions in part thanks to you! I'm alternating Ace Special reads with mood reads. Next Disch for me is Camp Concentration. Others on my shelf are 334, One Hundred and Two H-Bombs and The Puppies of Terra (original title was Mankind Under the Leash). Also have On SF for my next non-fiction SF read. Looking forward to your Disch content!! "We're only custodians of books." - Dorset Bob (brilliant)
I haven't re-read 'The Puppies of Terra' for years and have been thinking I'll tackle it again soon. I've always liked the original Ace title, but the cover of that edition is so goofy I can't bring myself to buy it. Will be showing my Panther edition of 'Puppies' in my upcoming Tom Tribute video. He really was very special- great shame the collaborative novel he and Christopher Priest were going to write never happened, that would have been interesting to say the least.....
@@outlawbookselleroriginal 🙄 Just realized I picked up the Ace Double with Mankind Under the Leash. Don’t like blue guy that looks like Wolverine carrying an axe? 😏 I’ll have to compare with Puppies to see if they are the same editions.
@@vintagesf As far as I can tell, they are the same textually, but of course there is an earlier short version entitled "White Fang Goes Dingo" (I use double parentheses to indicate a story by the way, single ones for a novel). This is the lead story in the collection 'White Fang Goes Dingo', which is a UK only collection. There are quite a few overlaps and alterations with Disch in his collections before 1980, affecting this book, '102 H Bombs', 'Getting Into Death' (which in the US was entitled 'Fun With Your New Head').
Dare I say with the current UK weather this is a Disch best served cold! I grabbed a copy Armed Camps (by Kit Reed) from Bob at the London Paperback & Pulp Fair last year .. I thought it was pretty good, although I would struggle to remember much about now!
Smudge up front: kewl. Post review cutaway to scenic Drowned World: Perfect! Matt will be proud! (Both calming and commentative!) Art design on LAMB; As you hold it, block letters facing me, bouncing around, forced to be looking at the cover, wondering why "Lamb," wondering why block letters grouped the way they are, realizing the graphic designer was feeling inspired since "M & B" would be the next letters that follow "L & A"- MB is the natural succession to LA. . . No. I didn't smoke anything. But I must run out and start my day so I'll have to watch the rest of the video later. Good health to you, success to trade!
Glad you liked it. Of course, I was shooting reviews outdoors long before Ira at SF Words of Wonder and the marvellous Matt at Bookpilled were (the Cordwainer Smith review in 2022) and random inserts of the outdoors after that. Not to mention my 'ol out and abouts of course. I'd film reviews outdoors a lot more if I could but (1) this is a small noisy country and (2) the weather is almost always terrible LOL.
I'm hoping to read more Disch this year and look forward to your Disch related content. Oddly enough I was wearing my dressing gown while watching this video.
It's clearly the sartorial way forward. The Video Widow wasn't happy. Personally, I think it's high time other SF youtubers started slumming it and presenting this way- it was good enough for Arthur Dent.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Absolutely I've got into Bob Shaw, Keith Roberts, Philip Jose Farmer and also now Ursula Le Guin. You open doors to whole new worlds!
Thanks for the your review of The Businessman. I bought it used based on your recommendation. This will be my first read of any books os Thomas Disch, so I'm faintly excited.
I have a vintage Disch story collection called Fun with Your New Head (variant of Under Compulsion), published in 1968 on my TBR for this year along with The Genocides, 334 and maybe The Prisoner (just for fun).
I read the yellow US paperback of THE BUSINESS MAN back in the day. As with you, it didn't click with me, though the prose was remarkable. But you've inspired me to revisit it.
Some very compelling reviews! Varieties of louche, in the midst of "The Drowned World"? You mentioned Disch's poetry. I recently got a copy of "Holding Your Eight Hands: An Anthology of Science Fiction Verse" which contains some Disch as well as Sladek, Aldiss, and some other interesting choices. It would be interesting sometime to hear if you ever found that sort of thing convincing!
" loved " MD, so will try The Buisness Man. MD is weird SF .At times darkly funny , at times nasty horror . And when we look at the book , in light of the recent troubles .Makes me wonder . Disch takes a swing at the church...here . Looking forward to your take on MD .
I just bought CA Smith's Zothique Edited by Hilger. It's a lovely edition and I've just ordered Interplanetaries and The Averoigne Chronicles. Hippocampus Press has also put out his Collected letters with various authors including Lovecraft and Derleth. I haven't sampled those but I'm thinking about it. I'm about to read Disch's The Man Who Had No Idea. I read the Genocides years ago; I need to reread it and I'm thinking of reading 334 before moving on to his Supernatural Minnesota tetralogy. I have to squeeze him in on my fiction TBR tower which is vying for supremacy with my non-fiction TBR edifice. Ah...the problems of Modern Man (Arcade Fire).
'Averoigne' seems to be out of print now or at least temporarily unavailable in the UK, best of luck getting it. '334' is excellent. 'The Man Who Had No Idea' I need to revisit.
Last year I read a story by Disch, called "The Roaches' in a weird fiction anthology called "Strangeness", edited by Charles Naylor, & Thomas Disch himself - most of the stories in it were good - by names such as M. John Harrison, Shirley Jackson, Graham Green, Phillip Jose Farmer, Joyce Carol Oates, Brian Aldiss, & many others. Anyway, something about the almost/British style in which The Roaches was written clicked with me - & I went & bought quite a few other books by Disch. He's very underrated - as you said.
I watched the review you did of the priest yesterday actually .Enjoyed it so much I ordered a copy and while I was at it ordered a copy of the islanders by Christopher Priest as well so two priests on the way!
Well, I think you mean Jon's review on Sci-FI Scavenger, where I left a huge comment? Amazing book. 'The Islanders' is one of CP's strangest works, but is best read after 'The Affirmation' and 'The Dream Archipelago' as they are all (dis)connected.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Sorry Steve think my message was too cryptic !! What I meant was I had re watched one of your old videos in which you had reviewed Thomas disch The priest, which you mentioned in the last video also .I enjoyed that review so much I had ordered thomas disch the priest then also ordered Christopher Priest the islanders as an afterthought .I did watch Jon’s video(very good )on Christopher Priests Fugue which incidentally is an absolutely fantastic book as well .Think I’ve confused myself now mate.🤔
I feel rather the same as you about The Businessman. I bought that same paperback from a railway station forecourt, astonished to see a Disch novel on full display. The prose took me through it, though I didn't, and don't, read horror. I thought it was very clever but I had no inclination to read any more of his horror novels (I may have read one more but I'm not sure). I'm afraid my take was that post-King, Disch thought he ought to earn some real money after all that arty SF stuff, so switched genres. I was sad - for him, and for me!
I would be very interested to know, OB, if you have an episode that contrasts UK SF vs USA SF. I looked in your archive but nothing jumped out. Suggestions welcome. :) Great content, quality, production and especially presentation as always, here on the Outlaw Bookseller YT channel old chap! Cheers.
After getting back into him in a year of trawling through the corners of the genre my instincts and reading had kept me away from (and for good reasons, mostly), he's been a breath of fresh air. No wonder so many other SF writers seemed to dislike him- he leaves them in the shade much of the time.
Your comment may suggest you are yet to watch much of my content? Or am I misreading your question? I suspect I am. I have a very large hardcover SF collection...but also a large paperback SF collection. I prefer to read hardcovers overall.
You’re an artist, Steve! I love everything you create ✨
Thomas M. Disch is one of my latest obsessions in part thanks to you! I'm alternating Ace Special reads with mood reads. Next Disch for me is Camp Concentration. Others on my shelf are 334, One Hundred and Two H-Bombs and The Puppies of Terra (original title was Mankind Under the Leash). Also have On SF for my next non-fiction SF read. Looking forward to your Disch content!!
"We're only custodians of books." - Dorset Bob (brilliant)
I haven't re-read 'The Puppies of Terra' for years and have been thinking I'll tackle it again soon. I've always liked the original Ace title, but the cover of that edition is so goofy I can't bring myself to buy it. Will be showing my Panther edition of 'Puppies' in my upcoming Tom Tribute video. He really was very special- great shame the collaborative novel he and Christopher Priest were going to write never happened, that would have been interesting to say the least.....
@@outlawbookselleroriginal 🙄 Just realized I picked up the Ace Double with Mankind Under the Leash. Don’t like blue guy that looks like Wolverine carrying an axe? 😏
I’ll have to compare with Puppies to see if they are the same editions.
@@vintagesf As far as I can tell, they are the same textually, but of course there is an earlier short version entitled "White Fang Goes Dingo" (I use double parentheses to indicate a story by the way, single ones for a novel). This is the lead story in the collection 'White Fang Goes Dingo', which is a UK only collection. There are quite a few overlaps and alterations with Disch in his collections before 1980, affecting this book, '102 H Bombs', 'Getting Into Death' (which in the US was entitled 'Fun With Your New Head').
Excellent channel you have here. I have always been a science fiction fan - but don't even scratch the surface of your knowledge of the genre!
You're very kind indeed. I'm an incurable.
Dare I say with the current UK weather this is a Disch best served cold! I grabbed a copy Armed Camps (by Kit Reed) from Bob at the London Paperback & Pulp Fair last year .. I thought it was pretty good, although I would struggle to remember much about now!
Smudge up front: kewl.
Post review cutaway to scenic Drowned World: Perfect! Matt will be proud! (Both calming and commentative!)
Art design on LAMB; As you hold it, block letters facing me, bouncing around, forced to be looking at the cover, wondering why "Lamb," wondering why block letters grouped the way they are, realizing the graphic designer was feeling inspired since "M & B" would be the next letters that follow "L & A"- MB is the natural succession to LA. . .
No. I didn't smoke anything.
But I must run out and start my day so I'll have to watch the rest of the video later.
Good health to you, success to trade!
Glad you liked it. Of course, I was shooting reviews outdoors long before Ira at SF Words of Wonder and the marvellous Matt at Bookpilled were (the Cordwainer Smith review in 2022) and random inserts of the outdoors after that. Not to mention my 'ol out and abouts of course. I'd film reviews outdoors a lot more if I could but (1) this is a small noisy country and (2) the weather is almost always terrible LOL.
By strange coincidence, I ordered used hardcover copies of The Businessman and The Sub earlier today. Looking forward to future Disch content.
Good move.
I'm hoping to read more Disch this year and look forward to your Disch related content. Oddly enough I was wearing my dressing gown while watching this video.
It's clearly the sartorial way forward. The Video Widow wasn't happy. Personally, I think it's high time other SF youtubers started slumming it and presenting this way- it was good enough for Arthur Dent.
Very enjoyable my friend 🙂
Cheers Jules!
Steve, you are costing me so much money as I keep ordering your recommendations!
This is a common experience, I'm told. Hope you enjoy what I suggest!
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Absolutely I've got into Bob Shaw, Keith Roberts, Philip Jose Farmer and also now Ursula Le Guin. You open doors to whole new worlds!
Thanks for the your review of The Businessman. I bought it used based on your recommendation. This will be my first read of any books os Thomas Disch, so I'm faintly excited.
I picked up a second printing HC of the Businessman in my local Oxfam just before Christmas. Very much looking forward to reading it.
Any printing will be a great read!
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Especially as I'd ummed and arred about buying a first edition copy of it down in London a couple of weeks earlier!
I have a vintage Disch story collection called Fun with Your New Head (variant of Under Compulsion), published in 1968 on my TBR for this year along with The Genocides, 334 and maybe The Prisoner (just for fun).
I read the yellow US paperback of THE BUSINESS MAN back in the day. As with you, it didn't click with me, though the prose was remarkable. But you've inspired me to revisit it.
Some very compelling reviews! Varieties of louche, in the midst of "The Drowned World"? You mentioned Disch's poetry. I recently got a copy of "Holding Your Eight Hands: An Anthology of Science Fiction Verse" which contains some Disch as well as Sladek, Aldiss, and some other interesting choices. It would be interesting sometime to hear if you ever found that sort of thing convincing!
I tend to stick with the Romantics when it comes to poetry.
Waiting for The Unborn Star talk!
Thanks old chum!
Being well read is not everything.....is what I think when I listen to Steve D.🧐 Good to see Smudge!!
Smudge is the Princess of it all.
" loved " MD, so will try The Buisness Man. MD is weird SF .At times darkly funny , at times nasty horror . And when we look at the book , in light of the recent troubles .Makes me wonder . Disch takes a swing at the church...here . Looking forward to your take on MD .
Disch was ALWAYS taking a swing at the Church in some way. 'The MD' will be my next TD read.
I just bought CA Smith's Zothique Edited by Hilger. It's a lovely edition and I've just ordered Interplanetaries and The Averoigne Chronicles. Hippocampus Press has also put out his Collected letters with various authors including Lovecraft and Derleth. I haven't sampled those but I'm thinking about it.
I'm about to read Disch's The Man Who Had No Idea. I read the Genocides years ago; I need to reread it and I'm thinking of reading 334 before moving on to his Supernatural Minnesota tetralogy. I have to squeeze him in on my fiction TBR tower which is vying for supremacy with my non-fiction TBR edifice. Ah...the problems of Modern Man (Arcade Fire).
'Averoigne' seems to be out of print now or at least temporarily unavailable in the UK, best of luck getting it. '334' is excellent. 'The Man Who Had No Idea' I need to revisit.
Last year I read a story by Disch, called "The Roaches' in a weird fiction anthology called "Strangeness", edited by Charles Naylor, & Thomas Disch himself - most of the stories in it were good - by names such as M. John Harrison, Shirley Jackson, Graham Green, Phillip Jose Farmer, Joyce Carol Oates, Brian Aldiss, & many others.
Anyway, something about the almost/British style in which The Roaches was written clicked with me - & I went & bought quite a few other books by Disch.
He's very underrated - as you said.
Yes, I've seen that anthology online but never in person as it were. I am going to pick it up one day, good names in it. Good to hear you're a TD fan!
I watched the review you did of the priest yesterday actually .Enjoyed it so much I ordered a copy and while I was at it ordered a copy of the islanders by Christopher Priest as well so two priests on the way!
Well, I think you mean Jon's review on Sci-FI Scavenger, where I left a huge comment? Amazing book. 'The Islanders' is one of CP's strangest works, but is best read after 'The Affirmation' and 'The Dream Archipelago' as they are all (dis)connected.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Sorry Steve think my message was too cryptic !! What I meant was I had re watched one of your old videos in which you had reviewed Thomas disch The priest, which you mentioned in the last video also .I enjoyed that review so much I had ordered thomas disch the priest then also ordered Christopher Priest the islanders as an afterthought .I did watch Jon’s video(very good )on Christopher Priests Fugue which incidentally is an absolutely fantastic book as well .Think I’ve confused myself now mate.🤔
@@themojocorpse1290 All good comrade!
The Dude abides.
I feel rather the same as you about The Businessman. I bought that same paperback from a railway station forecourt, astonished to see a Disch novel on full display. The prose took me through it, though I didn't, and don't, read horror. I thought it was very clever but I had no inclination to read any more of his horror novels (I may have read one more but I'm not sure). I'm afraid my take was that post-King, Disch thought he ought to earn some real money after all that arty SF stuff, so switched genres. I was sad - for him, and for me!
Ah, you've just mentioned The Priest, which was indeed the other horror novel I'd read. Thanks for the reminder.
I would be very interested to know, OB, if you have an episode that contrasts UK SF vs USA SF. I looked in your archive but nothing jumped out. Suggestions welcome. :) Great content, quality, production and especially presentation as always, here on the Outlaw Bookseller YT channel old chap! Cheers.
I've meant to do this but have not yet. I mean to put it back on the list. Thanks as ever for the praise, always warmly received!
I really want to know what You think about The Unborn Star
The next video I post - in a few days time- will be an in-depth review and analysis of 'Star of the Unborn'.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal thanks Dad
How we doing with The Star of the Unborn ?
We're 'done' with it' LOL
@@outlawbookselleroriginal i know! I did watchit and love it!
😊😊😊
Disch is one of the most criminally neglected great American writers.
After getting back into him in a year of trawling through the corners of the genre my instincts and reading had kept me away from (and for good reasons, mostly), he's been a breath of fresh air. No wonder so many other SF writers seemed to dislike him- he leaves them in the shade much of the time.
Hi Stephen are you more of a Paperback than hardback reader, when it comes to Science fiction?
Your comment may suggest you are yet to watch much of my content? Or am I misreading your question? I suspect I am. I have a very large hardcover SF collection...but also a large paperback SF collection. I prefer to read hardcovers overall.